Hinjo
Hinjo, originally known as 'The Warrior'U.S. Gold (1990, Amiga). Strider II (English). Instructions Manual, is the main protagonist in Tiertex's Strider II and all its ports. A member of the Striders, not much is known about Hinjo, aka the Strider DudeU.S. Gold (1993, Mega Drive). Journey from Darkness: Strider Returns (English). Instruction Manual, Pg. 1.. Claimed to be the "most pumped-out Strider of them all", his use of a Cypher would presume he's an Special-A Rank agent. Besides the Cypher, he favors the use of long-range weaponry, either a rifle or shurikens. He's also in love with LexiaU.S. Gold (1991, Master System). Strider II (English). Instruction Manual, Pg. 2.Strider Returns Advertisements. Guardiana.net. Retrieved 25 Nov 2010, who may or may not be the female leader of a distant planet...but she's definitively not a car. Story There are actually three very different accounts of the story in Strider II as given in the game's manuals. Strider II (Home computers) After returning victorious from the Soviet bloc, Hinjo is contracted by the forces of planet Magenta to rescue their female world leader from Alien Terrorists. As payment for his aid, he's given special weapons by the Magentan force in the form of a laser rifle and a machine that mutates him into a robot form. Fighting off the terrorist drones and forces throughout the war-struck Planet Magenta, Hinjo finally reaches their leader’s prison ship. After defeating all enemy forces, he releases the captive woman and together leave the ship on an escape shuttle. Strider II (Master System) In this version, Hinjo is only referred to as Strider. The simulation is over and Hinjo's training is complete. He's now ready to fight back the Master and his evil empire. The Master, however, kidnaps the beautiful Princess Magenta knowing it is Hinjo's object of affection and that he'd attempt a rescue mission. The Master plans on tricking and leading Hinjo into a path of destruction. Armed with his Cypher and shurikens, Hinjo goes through hazardous areas until he reaches the Master's Lair and rescues his beloved. They then escape the doomed spaceship. Strider Returns (Mega Drive/Game Gear) Grandmaster Meio returns seeking revenge. Not only he stands above Earth on his Prison Ship, threatening to turn Earth into a black hole, he’s also sent his minions to kidnap Lexia, Hinjo's beloved, as insurance against the Striders. Ready and willing to take this mission, Hinjo is assigned to stop The Master’s ambition. Hinjo’s mission begins on the Forbidden Forest, where he confronts enemy machines and Inferno to access the Castle Metropolis. Here he’s confronted by The Master himself, or so it appears. Defeating him, he proceeds through alien depths and rooftop areas until he gets into the Master’s Prison Ship. Hinjo confronts the Master at last and claims victory, and finally finds the captured Lexia. Freeing her, both abandon the exploding Prison Ship on an escape shuttle. Abilities Hinjo's abilites are (much like everything else) copied off from Hiryu, though always in some reduced or unfinished way. He has a different set of abilities depending on the game: In the original home computer versions, Hinjo is as acrobatic as Hiryu and can do most of his stunts, albeit he moves slower than him and can't perform the slide attack. He wields the Cypher sword while in any position except while standing still. He also has a Climb Sickle and can cling through walls, but not ceilings, for some reason. Unique to him are two weapons gifted by the Magentans: the "Gyro laser" is a high-velocity rifle Hinjo can use for crowd-control, but only while standing still. The "matter converter" is an artifact that, once powered-up, cybernetically mutates him into an "Elite Mechanical Combat Unit", a rare robot form with tank threads. This form can't jump, duck, moves even slower and only shoots a laser beam in a straight line. In spite of this, the Magentans "have told him" he should be able to defeat anything the terrorists can throw at him..... Starting in the Master System port, Hinjo's abilities are altered: Hinjo can now perform the slide and climb ceilings, but he's just as fast (if not slower). His Cypher is now a "Sweep" variant with a wave-type edge effect, though there's the option to switch it for the "Original" variant. The Gyro Laser was replaced by Shurikens, which he can throw straight ahead in a similar way to the rifle, and the robot form is scrapped for the Rotun shield, a set of orbs which spin around him producing damage on contact to bosses. Design Notes Hinjo's existence is attribued to the complexity of Hiryu's trademark: being both owned by Capcom and Moto Kikaku, Tiertex and U.S. Gold couldn't use him, so they altered his sprite to have him use white instead of lavender. The sprite used in the later Mega Drive port is, in fact, merely a white color swap of Hiryu's sprite directly ripped from the Mega Drive port of the first game.Scion (February 11, 2010). "Interview with Allan Findlay". LSCM 4.0. Accessed November 23, 2010. While better known as Hinjo, this name only appears once in the Mega Drive's manual, and all other instances (including in-game) refer to him as simply "Strider". This also applies to the Home Computer ports, whose manual instead refers to him as "The Warrior". Much like everything related to Strider II/Returns, Hinjo was ignored once the official Strider 2 was released. Gallery Hinjo_original.png|Original portrait Hinjo_ending.png|As seen in the ending StrII_escape_ship.png|Escaping in space Hinjobot_sprite.png|Hinjo-bot sprite Trivia * As expected from originating in a game of Returns quality, Hinjo is treated as a joke character by the fanbase, and mocked whenever possible. * Each manual backstory created for the games Hinjo stars have differing details and reference different elements from previous versions: ** The backstory in the manual for the original Strider II state Hinjo came victorious from "the Soviet bloc". This is a nod to the manual backstory for the home computer ports of Strider, where the "Strider" is described as a spy sent to infiltrate the Russian Red Army seeking to procure enemy secretsU.S. Gold (1989, Amiga). Strider (English). Loading Instructions. This also implies Hinjo was also the main character in those ports. ** port]] The manual in the Master System port instead claims that "the simulation is over" and Hinjo's training is complete, making a direct reference to the altered "simulation" ending as seen in those ports, which claims the entire game is a test. This is the only other instance this ending is ever referenced, making this port explicity a sequel to that ending. ** The manuals for the Mega Drive and Game Gear ports don't mention any of the references listed above, but they do reference Moralos Island, an element created exclusively for the English localization of the Mega Drive port. As the manual states Meio came back seeking revenge, these ports could be seen following up to the slightly altered scenario featured in the English Sega Genesis manual. References Category:Characters Category:Heroes Category:Striders